Opinions On The Da Vinci 1.0 3d Printer?

Question

Hey everyone!

Slowly creeping my way into 3d printing and I was looking at this 3D printer.

It appears to have good reviews, but I want opinions from you guys. What do you think? Will a novice be able to learn on it ok? Its $600 so its in my price range, that's why I'm interested.

Thanks, Tech

brw_racing · Answer

Looks good to me for the price it seems decent. I have always liked open source reprap printers but i dont think i could build one from scratch much cheaper. The only thing that stands out to me is the filament cartridges. Ive always thought of cartridge as a scam to force people to use there brand filament at there inflated prices? I would do a price per LB or KG comparison or see if anyone has hacked a cartridge to make it refillable or even without the cartridge. Im curious if anyone here has one that can tell us first hand.. I think it seems decent.

CardboardHacker · Answer

I think I read something about a refillable cartridge hack for this printer. Thanks brw.

brw_racing · Answer

I did a quick dirty search on the cartridges.... 1.3 lb cartridge for $28 and there was an ebay seller selling 2.2lb rolls of filament for $20 If there is a way to hack the machine and fool it to think a cartridge is in the machine while your just feeding off from a spool it could save you allot of money.

CardboardHacker · Answer

How much filament would you normally use printing, say, Jd's head?

brw_racing · Answer

well cura says the front half of his head shell would use 49 grams at 20% fill density support material included assuming the back would be very close to the same lets just say 100 grams. so google says 0.22 lbs. so your 1.3 lb cartridge would print almost 6 heads something like that. the 2.2 lb roll would print 10

CardboardHacker · Answer

Unfortunately to get the printer able to print from a different cartridge you have to install a different firmware...

brw_racing · Answer

Technopro That's a bummer. Here is a nice price for a good printer like i have built before. check this company out. https://shop.diytechshop.com/index.php?route=product%2Fproduct&product_id=55 What i love about reprap style printers is there is always smart folks improving it and offering there new improved ideas for everyone freely... Just like ezrobot. Makerfarm also makes a prusa kit that is more wooden but has good reviews

CardboardHacker · Answer

With the stuff I'll be doing, I might not need a lot of filament. This printer might work.

Antron007 · Answer

Hey Tech. Not Sure How Big Of A Hurry You Are In But You May Want To Look At The Solidoodle Press. They Start Shipping At The End Of October. They Will Be $599 But Are Still At $450 Presale As Of Yesterday. I Plan On Ordering One Soon. (I Have To Make Arrangements With The Misses)

CochranRobotics · Answer

I have been looking at the Solidoodle 4 and the press for the school. I wont know if funding is approved for this until later this month, but if it isn't, I will probably purchase one anyway and donate it. It uses standard filament too.

CardboardHacker · Answer

The press looks promising, but shipping must be a dog!

brw_racing · Answer

The Press looks like a nice little machine. Im curious how there new software works. One thing that seems odd is it only uses 180watt power supply. That seems way too small to run any heated bed ive ever herd of. Solidoodle has a pretty good following and ive herd some good things about them. I almost crapped myself with the filament prices though $43 for 2lbs is highway robbery.

CardboardHacker · Answer

Though you can use other rolls I believe.

Rich · Answer

You'll get what you pay for with a 3D printer. Also, as someone mentioned building one for not much cheaper - you will find it's usually cheaper to get a build it yourself kit as the people who bundle the kits together buy in bulk, you don't, they get better prices. I've been keeping an eye on 3D printers for a couple of years and have to say that nothing else gets as many good reviews as the Makerbot printers. They may be a bit more than their competition but there are a lot of reasons why they still continue to trade at those prices. Buy cheap and you buy at least twice in my experience (with everything not just 3D printers).

brw_racing · Answer

I would have to agree with everything you said Rich. Makerbot does get good reviews There printers do seem to work extremely well but i have seen failed prints come out of makerbot's just like any cheaper printer. I believe makerbot has a cult following much like apple computers do... I think if you build your own open source printer or build a kit you can get allot of bang for your buck. When i look at the components of a makerbot i just don't see where the extra cost went. Its not like there stepper motors are any different than ones i buy.. or there belts are super special.

Rich · Answer

EZ-Robots had a lot of problems with failed prints on a makerbot but once they knew what was wrong and got it set up right they went from 1 to 5 printers. Anthony from XLRobots will surely agree that Makerbot are best but do need setting up correctly. You also need to consider why so many other companies produce makerbot clones. You wouldn't clone rubbish.

Antron007 · Answer

I have an SD2 currently and aside from damage I caused, I loved it. I got it dialed in and then bent the pulley on the x motor and have just been stalling out on fixing it. My GF is going to order a Press for my Xmas present so I'm very excited. I loved my sd2 and the Press is everything the 2 was plus the upgrade I had to manually add plus 2"x2"x2" bigger print area and bed level detection.

I know Josh had some issues with his SD2 and while I expected a potential nightmare, I had a great experience. I look forward to the Press. I've had to turn down a few print job offers since my printer isn't in proper order so it'll be nice to have 2 printers.

But since @Tech asked about the DaVinci, I recommend you go to soliforum.com. They have a lot of good info on the DaVinci printer , including some stuff about the filament cartridge which to me, is it's only real negative. It seems like a good printer from what I've read.

Either way, I think you'll love owning a 3d printer.

CardboardHacker

Opinions On The Da Vinci 1.0 3D Printer?

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